The present disclosure relates generally to seals, and more particularly to floating non-contact seals for use in gas turbine engines.
Honeycomb and knife-edge seals can be used to form a seal at the interface between rotating and static components within the turbine section of a gas turbine engine. Over time, the knife-edge seal can wear a trench into the honeycomb causing gaps and sporadic leaks over time.
Floating non-contact seal configurations allow adaptive radial motion of shoe components relative to a rotating component. Floating non-contact seals can vary a gap between the sealing element and a rotating component by adapting to the change in pressure across the sealing element. A shoe component of the floating non-contact seal is drawn radially inward and outward (toward and away) from the rotating component in response to the pressure across the sealing element. Over time, the radially inward and outward motion of the shoe component can cause sealing elements within floating non-contact seals to break their seal or become damaged against the shoe component.
Structures and configurations of floating non-contact seals are the subject of the following commonly owned U.S. Patent Publications US2016/0130963A1, US2015/0322816A1, and US2015/0285152A1 (incorporated by reference herein in their entireties).